The Monthly Newsletter of the Canterbury/Westland Section of the Alpine Club February 2016

Section Meeting- 11th February- Summer adventures Uprising Newsletter of the Canterbury/Westland section, New Zealand Alpine Club Febraury 2016 Contributions are more than welcome. Please send to [email protected] by the 20th of each month. Thanks!

Contents Page Section meetings………………………………………………………….….....2 Club trips…………………………….……………………………………..…….….3 Mt St Mary…………………………………………………………………………..6 Mid-week Mountaineers hut maintenance excursion….………8 The Mahitahi………………………………………………………………………10 Notices………………………………………………….……………….....…….…11 Gear hire and members benefits…………………..…………...……...13

Section Evenings

Location: Cashmere Club, 50 Colombo St Time: Drinks from 7:30pm, talks start at 8pm sharp

11th February- Summer adventures- The Canterbury/Westland section committee wishes all members a Happy New Year. Have you taken advantage of the great weather over the break and been out in the hills? Whether you were mountaineering, rock climbing, tramping, the section would love to hear about it! What better way to fight the "back to work blues" than to select some of your images to show at the next section meeting? Bring along some of your to the next section meeting! (if you have some slides to show, be there by 7.30 at the latest so we can load people’s photos).

10th March- No Cumbre, no fiesta- Last December, Steven Fortune, Jono Clarke and Daniel Joll travelled to El Chalten, Patagonia, to try and climb Torre Egger.This was Jono's 2nd trip to the range, Stevens 3rd, and Dan's 6th. Steve will talk about their latest attempts, failures, successes and why they are drawn to keep coming back for more on this iconic range and the progression in climbing skills observed over a few short years climbing here.

April 14th- Pete Harris - First ascents in NZ 2 Cover Photo: Waterfall near the head of the Mahitahi River. Photo: Nina Dickerhof Upcoming club trips and events Events Calendar

6th & 7th of February- The Warrior. If interested please contact Matt at [email protected]

13th February- Port hills 300. Registration at Upshot Café Heathcote at 8:30am. Start at 9:00am from the café. Finish at 6:00pm at the Valley Inn, Heathcote

4th-5th March- River Crossing Safety Day- For a registration form, equipment list and further information please email Clayton on [email protected]

12-13th March-Dunedin Rock Climbing Weekend- For all inquiries and a registration form please contact Clayton on [email protected]

Further details on following pages

Lead a Trip: If you would like to lead a trip for the club, alpine, rock climbing, cycling or otherwise, contact Andrew Barrett: [email protected]

Mid week Rock Climbing

Runs every Wednesday evening. It happens, indoor or outdoors, depending on the weather. An email is sent out to the climbing group at the beginning of the week with details about who is organizing it. You are also welcome/encouraged to use the climbing group to organize climbing at any time, including weekend trips. If you are interested, please contact David Shearer on [email protected] or 027 418 8443.

Mid week Mountaineering

The mid week group are mainly fairly mature mountaineers who still manage to plod up a few peaks, usually on Wednesdays, depending on the weather. If you are interested in joining us, please contact Pat Prendergast on 337 0 079 or [email protected]

3

The Warrior (Armoury Range) - 6th & 7th of February

A trip is planned with the primary objective of climbing The Warrior on the Armoury Range. The plan will be to leave Christchurch early on Saturday morning, driving to Erewhon Station then walking up the Clyde then Sinclair Rivers where we will make a high overnight bivy. From Crossbow Saddle, we will climb nearby Amazon Peak then traverse Battleaxe Col to ascend the South Ridge of The Warrior - with names like that how could you resist! This trip will involve two full days, returning Sunday evening and will require a reasonable level of fitness, confidence in scrambling over rock and using an ice axe/crampons. If interested please contact Matt at [email protected]

Dunedin Rock Climbing Weekend- 12th and 13th March.

The annual rock climbing weekend, co hosted with the Otago Section of the NZAC. We will leave town Friday( 11th ), afternoon or evening to suit and be based at the Long Beach Community Hall for the weekend( tenting outside and using the facilities inside ).The Community Hall has full kitchen facilities and two toilets and nice flat grass areas outside for tents - there are no showers but the beach is just a 5 min walk to cool off in and have a dip ! Dunedin is an awesome place to rock climb and there are climbs and grades to suit all abilities from grades 12 and up on sport and trad as well as top roping for those who don't wish to lead climb. Options to climb will be the all trad crag of Mihiwaka, Adventure climbing at Lovers Leap, sport climbing at Mapoutahi and Port Chalmers Quarry and trad, sport and bouldering at Long Beach. Festivities for the weekend will include a hot tub on Long Beach itself, prizes for best dressed climbing and Saturday evening costume and a scavenger hunt / quiz. The cost of the weekend will be $30( cash only ), and this will cover the cost of hall hire, two nights tenting and the Saturday evening bar b que( vegetarian and gluten free options available ). This weekend will act as a fund raiser with proceeds after expenses to be split between the C/W and Otago sections for local crag repairs and maintenance. Non members welcome and all ages and family groups( those attending under 16 must have parental permission or be supervised by a guardian ). For all inquiries and a registration form please contact Clayton on [email protected] and please indicate when inquiring, what time you can leave on the Friday evening and if you can provide a car or will need to car pool with others.

4 River Crossing Safety Day- Friday 4th( evening seminar ), and Saturday 5th March( half day practical at the Waimak river ).

More people come to grief through drowning in the back country of N.Z than in any other way. Do you have the necessary skills to know how to, and be comfortable with, safely crossing a river and have you thought about a river crossing course ? The C/W Section has arranged 3 MSC ( Mountain Safety Council ) Instructors to run a river crossing safety day for us and this course is limited to just 18 participants. There will be an evening seminar for 2 hours on the Friday from 6pm along with a half day practical on the Saturday starting at 10am( the evening seminar is compulsory in order to attend the practical on the Saturday ). The cost of this course is just $25 and open to current NZAC members only. For a registration form, equipment list and further information please email Clayton on [email protected]

The Port Hills 300- Saturday 13th February

The Port Hills 300 is a fun, social days climbing with the aim to raise money for local crag repairs and replacement of old and worn anchors. This event, organised by local climber Tony Burnell, is now in its third year and in the previous two years over $400 was raised and put directly back into Port Hills crags. You don't have to be an elite climber to compete as this event is open to all abilities and is a way to meet like minded people for a great day out on the Port Hills on February 13th. All you need to do is come along with a climbing partner, register on the day( just $10 cash, and this includes a free bar b que at the end of the day ) and have heaps of fun ! Fancy dress climbing costumes are encouraged but not compulsory. Spread the word and support local climbing.

5 Mt St Mary-January 2016

-Pat Prendergast (for the mid-week group.. average age of group apart from young David.. about 65)

Inspired by recent articles on this mountain, a group of 9 from our mid-week group (including 2 Kiwi ex-pats now living in Canada), met at the Ahuriri Base Hut in the drizzling rain, on January 3rd 2016. Next day dawned clear & sunny so we headed across the river, up the steep tussock slopes into the upper basin. Once over the stream the going was rougher with a mix of boulder fields & scree slopes & alpine veg until we reached the lake nestled among smooth rocky outcrops. In between them, was a great variety of campsites with lake views.

Camp by the lake with Ahuriri peaks behind. Photo: Pat Prendergast

Next morning, after a frosty start, we headed up the maze of jumbled boulders, past old winter snow slopes & into the steep gully that leads to the ridge. It was slow going because the rock was so loose but finally we were on more stable ground with the main ridge under our feet. The others graciously let me (the oldest member) lead 6 up the last section to the summit. The summit team were, Daryll, Barbara & David Thompson, Chris Longson, Jan Haley, Rod Thomson & Pat Prendergast. A morning tea celebration on the top with views of Cook, Aspiring, & the peaks of the area, Barth & Huxley made for a special start to the new year. We carefully moved back down the gully to avoid rock fall then had a very enjoyable run down the snow slopes & back to the camp. Alison Longson & Di Hooper had a brew ready for us then the rest of the day was spent exploring the smaller tarn area with it’s abundance of alpine flowers, a dip in the lake & resting. After a hearty round of folk songs & poems we climbed into our sacks feeling very satisfied. Next morning we were all packed & ready an hour before schedule. The way down was shortened by using a gully that Barbara had sussed out the day before, so it was no time before we were back down, across the river & back to the cars for lunch.

Jan, Pat, Barbara, David, Daryll, Chris on the summit of St Mary. Photo: Rod Thomson

7 Mid-week Mountaineers’ DoC hut maintenance excursion

-Charlie Catt Mon 11th – Fri 15th Jan, 2016.

Last winter the idea of helping DoC with hut maintenance was discussed by some of the mid-week mountaineers, and to this end five of us (Neil Pilbrow, Dave Kennedy, Rod Thomson, Charlie Catt and Carolyn Catt) set off for the upper reaches of the Wilberforce River and some of its tributaries to administer some TLC to four backcountry huts. The work was overseen by Jim Henderson (DoC) and he was accompanied by his family; Claire, Mari (11) and Hamish (7). We carried out a range of tasks, including painting the outside of two huts, repairing windows on some others, cleaning out the insides of all of them and removing rubbish. Thanks need to go to Neil for organising things from the NZAC end, and to Jim for sorting things out on

Unknown Hut with Mt Murchison in background. Photo- Charlie Catt

8 the DoC side, and especially to the latter for his enthusiasm (probably not shared by some of his superiors in DoC) for deciding to work on these old and not so frequently used huts, the oldest dating from 1933.

Thanks also need to go to Claire for providing more food, much of it home made, than we could eat. Having a grunty 4WD and a quad bike allowed a lot of fresh food to be brought up, and in some cases even our packs were transported part way to the huts, although we did a fair bit of footslogging and river crossings. It was agreed by all that the five days were both well spent and highly enjoyable, and we hope to do something similar next year.

Urquharts Hut (1933) – the team. Photo- Charlie Catt

9 The Mahitahi

Over the Christmas break Nina Dickerhof and James Thornton spent some time taking in the lovely scenery of South Westland. They travelled up the Mahitahi Valley and over into the Zora, making a climb of Mount Strachan from Mueller Pass on the way. The following day they climbed onto the Zircon Glacier, however, the summit of Fettes eluded them. The rest of the trip was spent descending into the Landsborough, which they then followed to its head. A traverse of The Gladiator brought them to Karangarua Saddle from where they climbed the striking Mount Townsend via a couloir on the northern side of the west ridge, which they then followed to the summit. An amble down the beautiful Karangarua Valley concluded the trip.

Camp on Mueller Pass. Photo: Nina Dickerhof

Nina Dickerhof on the summit of Mt Townsend Photo: James Thornton

10 Notices

New Zealand Backcountry Cooking - an exciting new book by Paul and Rebecca Garland.

Written especially for trampers, campers and other wilderness adventurers, this comprehensive outdoor cooking guide offers a huge range of delicious and lightweight food options that can be created by simple cooking techniques Available from book stores or online direct from the authors at www.campfirecreation.co.nz

Guidebook Recall– closing

The recall of the four rock climbing guidebooks that had faulty, loose binding will end February 29, 2016 (Wanaka Rock, North Island and Rock Deluxes, Castle Hill Climbing Guide – affects 2014/2015 editions only). This is a reminder that if you have one of these guides and are seeking to get it replaced, you will need to have the cover returned to us by that date to ensure you get a replacement copy. We need to have the outside front cover, your name, address, phone, email and tell us where the guide was purchased from, please. Send to: Margaret McMahon, NZAC, PO Box 786, Christchurch 8140. Thanks

The 2016 overseas reciprocal huts stickers

These have arrived and are for sale online to NZAC members only. For details on participating European clubs and/or to purchase, please see: http://alpineclub.org.nz/product/reciprocal-overseas-hut-stickers-2016/

Donated Family Memberships

The Morgan Foundation have donated two Family memberships that they would like us to give to climbing families who may be finding it difficult to fund membership themselves, or failing that maybe by their involvement in the club, be deserving of free membership in recognition. The new Family Memberships are now 1-2 adults and up to 5-6 under 18yr olds (7 people max). It will be a saving of $160 for a family who might otherwise struggle to meet this cost. I’m hoping we can have these in place by the end of January if that’s possible. This is a pretty unusual donation for us and so we’d like to see it go to a couple of especially deserving families and hope you have some suggestions. Contact Margaret: [email protected] 11

Mid -week rock climbing organiser needed

- David Shearer I'm leaving Christchurch in March and so we're looking for someone to take over the mid-week climbing group position on the NZAC Canterbury-Westland committee. It's a fairly easy job; the main tasks being: Maintaining a roster of organisers for the sessions (I run a few myself, but this isn't strictly necessary!) Attending as many monthly committee meetings as you can (you can drink beer at these) Occasional assistance at events like Banff or section meetings (sometimes involving free tix) It's a great way to get more involved with the Christchurch climbing community and to meet new climbers in the area. Let me know if you're interested and I can give you more of a run-down on what's required

Email- [email protected]

Canterbury Westland Youth Alpine Scholarship

Canterbury/Westland Youth Scholarship Congratulations to Mikayla Green as the female recipient of the Canterbury Westland Youth Scholarship! Mikayla's aspirations for increasing her climbing skills shone through clearly in her application, we hope this Scholarship helps in Mikayla's pursuit of climbing. We look forward to hearing Mikayla give a brief talk one of her climbing trips at a section evening in future. Mikayla has won: $400 towards NZAC courses 1 year NZAC membership 1 years free gear rental of the Section rental gear

12 Section gear hire

The Canterbury / Westland Section has the following equipment available for members to hire: All equipment is $10 day per item and $5 each extra day unless stated. EPIRB( emergency locater beacon ) x 1. Avalanche kit( Transceiver / shovel and probe ) x 12. Snow Shoes x 2. Plastic / rigid leather mountaineering boots x 22 pair of various sizes. Crampons x 9. Walking ice axe x 6. Ice hammers x 2. Technical ice tools x 5 pair of various models. Harnesses x 2. Alpine ropes x 5 - 60 m dry( Instruction courses only ). Snow stakes x 6( $5 first day / $2.50 each extra day ). Ice screws x 6( $5 day for 2 / $2.50 each extra day ). Helmets x 6( $5 day / $2.50 each extra day ). Petrol drill( own fuel must be provided ). Trad rack x 4( Instruction courses only ).

Terms and Conditions: For members only with club trips and instruction first priority. Hirer responsible for any loss or damage of equipment. All equipment must be returned within 24 hrs of arrival back to Christchurch or prior arrangement otherwise an additional hire fee may occur. Gear hire is cash only( receipt provided ) upon pick up and available on Tuesday and Thursday evenings only after 5pm. Please contact Clayton on [email protected] or text during day on 0274461562 .

Benefits for NZAC members NZAC Membership gives you access to many discounts with the following retailers. You may be asked to present your active NZAC membership. To see full terms and conditions and other benefits of being a member, please visit https://alpineclub.org.nz/benefits-of-membership

Cactus

13 Trip guidelines An important part of the NZAC is volunteer organised trips. Many members will have had their first alpine experiences on club trips. And many will also have organised trips, helping other members enjoy our alpine environment. If you're thinking of joining or organising a trip, here are some guidelines on what to expect. Responsibilities of a Trip Participant • You are responsible for your own safety. If you are uncomfortable with any situation it is up to you to let your Trip organiser know straight away. • Be prepared to drive or pay transport costs (petrol, wear and tear) as determined by the Trip organiser. • Make sure you are as fit and healthy as possible. • Make sure you have a clear idea of the trip's goals and what will be required of you to achieve those goals. Obtain a relevant map and know where you are going, what type of terrain is involved, what gear you will need and the knowledge of how to use it. • Be honest to your Trip Organiser about how much experience you have and accept that the Trip Organiser might not accept you on the trip if he/she thinks you are not experienced enough. • Get in contact with the Trip Organiser as soon as you are confident that you want to go on the trip. • If you discover that you cannot go on the trip then let the Trip Organiser know as soon as possible so that another person can take your place. • Read, understand and return the signed copy of the NZAC waiver form to the Trip Organiser. Responsibilities of a Trip organiser • Trips should be fun for everyone. They are not very hard to organise and can be very rewarding. Choose a mountain, peak, hill, traverse, route, crag, or whatever and get out there and meet some keen club members! • You cannot be responsible for the safety of every member of the group, but you should aim to empower every group member with enough knowledge to make their own informed decisions about the proposed trip both before and during the trip. • Choose a realistic goal for the time available and give prospective group members an idea of the amount of effort required to achieve the stated goal • Set a group size limit based on your experience, the goal, time available and group fitness and experience. • Let the group know what skills and equipment are needed when they sign up so that everyone is prepared. • Provide the trip Participants with a copy of the NZAC waiver form and have them understand, sign and return it to you in advance of the trip. • Organise travel arrangements at the earliest opportunity and let everyone know how much they should expect to pay for transport costs (petrol, wear and tear). • Prepare detailed trip intentions and leave them with at least one responsible individual. The intentions should include a latest return time/date which would trigger a search initiated by the responsible individual(s) and involving the relevant authorities (Police, SAR, etc). • If someone on the trip voices their concern about the situation it is up to you (with the help of the group) to find a safe solution where possible. This may involve everyone turning around. • Give priority to NZAC members • Find someone on the trip to write an interesting trip report for the Section Newsletter. 14

Section Library Section Library Did you know that the Section has its own library and that unlike the National Office library you can actually borrow the books in the Section library? Every section meeting I will bring a good selection of the hundreds of books in the library, along with the DVDs. The contents of the C/W Section library can be found online here: http://bit.ly/CWLibrary (Note: There is a list of DVDs on the second tab of the spreadsheet). If you would like to borrow a book or DVD then please email me and we’ll sort something out. Library policies are pretty flexible – · You must have a current NZAC membership card to borrow · Books are generally to be returned within 2 months, but new purchases will be expected to be returned within 1 month. · DVDs are expected to be returned within 2 weeks. When you are ready to return a book, email me. John Roper-Lindsay - Librarian , [email protected], 021 395513 NOTE: - You may return books/DVDs in one of 4 ways. 1) Return them to next Section meeting. 2) Drop them off at National Office and tell whomever you speak to that they are for C/W library. 3) Drop them off at Boffa Miskell office at 4 Hazeldean Road (near Hagley Park, just off Lincoln Road), marked for “Yvonne”. 4) Email/text/phone me to arrange handover some other way

NZAC Deceased Members Member: Steven Hunter Francis Dowall Notified: TV news – went missing on climb of Mt Cook with Rob Hawes after the pair were separated. They were en route to Empress Hut when bad weather came up earlier than expected. Joined: 18/02/2004 Section: Wellington Member Type: Full Member number: 716 Date of Birth: 3/12/1963 Deceased: 26/11/15 (went missing on this day) 52yrs Lived in Myanmar – wife Sovann

15 Member: Nicola Anne Andrews Notified: Fall – Mt Footstool, Mt Cook NP http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/75455458/friends-mourn-melbourne-woman-nicola- andrews-who-died-in-mt-cook-fall Joined: 24/11/2014 Section: Australia Member Type: Full Member number: 19697 Date of Birth: 31/12/1986 Deceased: 23/12/2015 29yr Deathnotice: http://tributes.couriermail.com.au/notice/237322038/view?random=14518 44278133

Member: Dale Amanda Thistlethwaite Notified: Fall – eastern face Mt , Mt Cook NP with partner Stuart Hollaway http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/75575825/rescue-team-recovers-two-bodies-at-mt- cook Joined: 8/12/2004 Section: Australia Member Type: Full Member number: 7238 Date of Birth: 5/9/1980 Deceased: 29/12/2015 35yr

Member: Stuart Jason Hollaway Joined: 31/1/1997 Section: Australia Member Type: Full Member number: 5062 Date of Birth: 12/9/1973 Deceased: 29/12/2015 42yr

Member: Eric Jacomb Notified: fall Mawson Glacier, near the headwaters of the River, South Westland. http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/75594648/Tramper-killed-at-South- Westland-glacier-named-as-Eric-Jacomb Joined: 7/9/2012 Section: Canty/Westland Member Type: Full Member number: 10043 Date of Birth: 15/6/1961 Deceased: 2/1/2016 54yr 16

Canterbury/Westland Section of The New Zealand Alpine Club

Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/NZACCanterburyWestland/176920578985933

Section Library http://bit.ly/CWLibrary

Section Contacts Chairman Treasurer Craig Hosking John Roper-Lindsay 022 3509656 [email protected] [email protected] 021 395513

Secretary Arthur’s Pass Lodge Grant Piper John Henson 021 711300 027 4714075 [email protected] [email protected]

Events Rock Climbing Coordinator Jim Petersen David Shearer 027 4 910 910 0274188443 [email protected] [email protected]

Trips Coordinator Section Evenings Andrew Barrett Nina Dickerhof 022 043 4227 021 02355634 [email protected] [email protected]

Instruction Coordinator Online Coordinator Clayton Garbes Michelle Lindsay 027 4461562 [email protected] [email protected] National Committee Rep. Library Yvonne Pfluger John Roper-Lindsay 027 6004679 [email protected] [email protected] 021 395513 Newsletter Accomodation Committee Rep. James Thornton Phillip Tree 0272608924 [email protected] [email protected] 17